Empress Maeda of Ush

"You are mine, Empress Makeda, you and your kingdom, if you refuse to pay tribute to us, you will feel the wrath of the Blood Drinkers," Bilain said, and the six-foot-tall, lovely, brown-skinned young woman looked at the Empress of Kush, the Holy Kandake, ruler of the most powerful kingdom in Africa, and smiled fearlessly. She stood there, clad in the tattered remains of a white toga, licking her too-sharp white teeth with a tongue far longer and more prehensile than any ordinary woman's tongue ought to be.

The Kushite Imperial Guard, made up of seventeen men and eleven women chosen from Kush's greatest warriors, tensed somewhat. There was something altogether unnatural about the young-looking female entity that practically sauntered into the Throne Room, and absolutely captivated everyone. Normally, they were swift to eliminate any threat to Empress Makeda's safety, but tonight, they didn't quite know what to make of a certain creature...

These elite warriors, trained from birth and tasked with protecting the Empress of Kush at all times brandished their swords and spears, undaunted by the beautiful monster that stood before the Throne. In times that now seemed distant, the beautiful young noblewoman known as Bilain had been the Empress's Favorite, and, according to rumors, the two women were lovers. Not anymore...

In recent months, a fearsome plague had befallen the City of Napata, crown jewel of the Kushite Empire, and many of the surrounding kingdoms. A plague which sent men and women to the Temples of Aspelta, deified King of Kush in ancient times, Father of the Kushite Nation. Panic gripped Kush, and its neighbors. The Afar people, the barbarians of the Punt wastelands, all of them neighboring Kush, were experiencing the same problem. Come nightfall, their sons and daughters would vanish without a trace, as though taken by some mysterious beasts.

A few nights later, the missing men and women would inevitably return to the towns, villages and compounds they once called home...only they were changed. According to eyewitness accounts, the Changed Ones had sharp teeth, and bright red eyes. They came out only at night, to prey on others, especially family members and friends. They left in their wake corpses drained of blood, and a few nights later, those very same corpses would rise, to begin the unholy cycle anew...

"Fiend that wears the body of my beloved Bilain, know this, we of Kush do not fear monsters," said Empress Makeda, speaking with authority and righteous anger. The woman seated on the gold-encrusted throne was quite lovely, with mahogany-hued skin, and a muscular, Amazonian physique as befitting one who was warrior first and politician second. Clad in a white toga and crimson cape, a silvery diadem encircling her noble brow, Empress Makeda of Kush looked beautiful and fearsome. And she absolutely refused to be intimidated, by man or woman, monster or creature.

"You shall pay for this effrontery, little woman, my kind will destroy your paltry little kingdom," Bilain said, and before the Kushite Imperial Guard could react, the creature flung itself at the window, and hurled itself from the sixth floor of the Holy Kher, the Imperial Palace. Nobles and guards alike rushed to the window, in time to see the creature land on the streets of the City of Napata, and disappear in the darkness below. Never before had they seen such primal, supernatural power...

Terrified by what they'd just seen, the noblemen and noblewomen who'd come to the Court of Empress Makeda muttered among themselves. The Empress, sensing her subjects fear and dread, knew that only one course of action was required. As ruler of a great nation, it was her sworn duty to protect her subjects from any and all enemies. The daughters and sons of the Kush Empire did not call the Holy Kandake their Supreme Protector without reason...

"Sisters and brothers, I fear that dark times are upon us, we must prepare for war against monsters, rather than mere men," Empress Makeda said, and the ruler of Kush rose at last. The fantastic display of supernatural power which she'd just beheld certainly didn't appear to have fazed her in any way. Empress Makeda, daughter of King Nedjeh, legendary ruler of the Kush Empire, had nerves of steel. Let man and monster tremble before her might...

"Your Majesty, I believe I can help," came a voice, and everyone turned to watch as a rather unusual person strode into the vast hall, purposefully walking toward the throne. The person in question was a tall, muscular woman clad in armor of burnished bronze, with a helmet made of the same material. Under her armor, the warrior woman's skin was of a rich ebony hue, and her eyes, golden brown and intense, fixed themselves on the woman standing at the throne.

"What is the meaning of this, woman? You are approach her Majesty Empress Makeda, the Holy Kandake herself, without invitation?" said a stocky, dark-skinned man clad in a crimson toga. Abebech of Axum, special advisor to the Empress of Kush, purposefully placed himself between the female stranger and the Empress, as though to protect the latter from the former. The fact that the Kushite Imperial Guard had their lances, swords and bows at the ready did not seem to matter to the old man, a lifelong servitor of the House of Nedjeh.

"Abebech, old friend, please, let her speak," Empress Makeda said, and upon hearing that, Abebech seemed placated...somewhat. The warrior woman genuflected before the Empress of Kush, and as the latter nodded, she rose to her feet. Everyone in the vast hall held their breath as the warrior woman approached the Empress, and stood a few meters from her, an unreadable expression on her beautiful face.

"Your Majesty, I am Feven, daughter of Kidane, and I hail from the village of Bagrawiyah, right outside the City of Meroe, I am here to help rid you of the Blood Drinkers," the warrior woman stated. The Empress looked at the stalwart young woman who stood before her. She searched the young woman's face for markings that would indicate her as member of a familiar nation or kingdom. The Empress knew her people, as befitting the ruler of a nation, and did not recognize this Feven as one of her own...

"I know the people of Meroe, young lady, and you do not resemble them, not fully, are you of mixed ancestry?" Empress Makeda asked, and the young woman sighed deeply and took a breath. Before she could answer, however, the conversation between royal woman and warrior woman was interrupted by Abebech. Evidently, the old advisor hadn't learned his lesson...

"Your Majesty, this Feven is not who she claims, she has the looks of a harlot disguised as a warrior," Abebech said, and he laughed merrily and looked at Feven with utter contempt. Empress Makeda looked at her trusted advisor, the man who once served her father, King Nedjeh, and defended the Kushite Empire in numerous military campaigns. In that moment, it was as if she did not know the man at all...

"Fiend, you reveal yourself at last," Feven cried, and with that, the young woman pulled a dagger out of its holster and threw it at the old advisor. Abebech laughed and caught the dagger, and tossed it aside harmlessly. Empress Makeda gasped in surprise, and the old man changed before her very eyes. Abebech's eyes turned bright red, and his teeth elongated and sharpened. Before anyone could react, the creature Abebech had become launched itself at Empress Makeda...

"Be careful, young one, I know you are fast, but I promise you that I can snap the Empress's neck before you can get to me," Abebech said, laughing mirthlessly, and he licked his fangs as he held Empress Makeda by the throat, and held her before him. The Kushite Imperial Guard surrounded the Empress and her unnatural kidnapper. These experienced men and women held their weapons ready, looking for any opening. They could shred the monster to pieces, but not without harming the Holy Kandake...

"Kill this fiend and be done with it," Empress Makeda said, and the Kushite Imperial Guard hesitated to follow their leader's order for the first time in ages. Meanwhile, Feven the Huntress picked up her fallen blade, and watched as the monstrous Abebech taunted the Kushite Imperial Guard, brandishing their Empress before himself like a human shield. Feven knew that she would have only seconds to act. Locking eyes with Empress Makeda, Feven smiled, and the Empress nodded.

"Ouch," Abebech yelled, as Empress Makeda pulled the dagger that she always carried, and thrust it into his ribs. The monster let go, and moments later, a second blade, thrown by Feven, suddenly pierced his cranium. Empress Makeda let herself fall to the floor. With a clear shot at their enemy, the Kushite Imperial Guard let their spears fly, and they thudded into the monster's body with meaty smacks. Seconds later, Abebech howled in pain, and then exploded into dust, before their very eyes...

"Your Majesty are you alright?" Feven asked, and she held out her hand, which Empress Makeda took. The warrior woman helped the Empress to her feet. The two women looked at each other with mutual respect. Captain Aser Kamani, leader of the Kushite Imperial Guard, was the second person to reach Empress Makeda. A towering, thick-bearded man with dark brown skin and a woolly mane, he smiled apologetically at his Empress.

"I am fine, thanks to you, my friends," Empress Makeda said, and she gently hugged Captain Aser Kamani, and laid her hand on Feven's shoulder. The young woman seemed a bit surprised by the gesture of familiarity, but said nothing. The Empress looked at her protectors, and the assembled noblemen and noblewomen in the Throne Room. Twice in one night they'd been under attack from the supernatural, and Empress Makeda was not about to underestimate her immortal enemies a third time...

"Your Majesty, my warriors and I will scour the palace and double the guards at all checkpoints in the City of Napata," Captain Aser Kamani said, and the Empress nodded in assent. The burly man nodded, struck his chest with his massive fist, and then exited the Throne Room, with two men and two women from the Kushite Imperial Guard. They were headed to the nearby Casern, where Kushite soldiers awaited. For the rest of the night, they would search every nook and cranny in Napata for anything, or anyone, out of the ordinary...

"I'm glad I was able to save you, your Majesty, my father often spoke highly of you," Feven said to Empress Makeda, a few days later. After that harrowing first night, a semblance of normalcy seemed to have returned to the Holy Kher, and the City of Napata itself. By order of the Empress, there was a curfew in place, and anyone caught wandering the streets at night could expect to be caught and imprisoned by the Imperial soldiers, and held until daylight.

"Thanks, dear, you spoke of your father, Kidane, now, who was your mother?" Empress Makeda asked, and a pained expression creased Feven's beautiful face. The Empress and her newest warrior sat on opposite couches, inside the walled garden at the center of the Kher. Nearby, four men and three women from the Kushite Imperial Guard handled the entries and exits. They were safe, for the moment. Empress Makeda looked at Feven expectantly, and the young woman suddenly seemed hesitant...

"My mother was Tirunesh Baruch, of Axum, what some people now call Ethiopia," Feven said, biting her lip. Empress Makeda carefully observed the lovely young woman who sat less than two meters from her. That day, the Empress wore a simple blue and white shirt over a long white skirt of pleated linen. Feven insisted on wearing her body armor every damn day, and seldom wore the beautiful skirts that Empress Makeda had gifted her with...

"That wasn't so hard, now, was it, Feven? In Kush, we are a nation made up of many people, some Kush men have taken as wives women from the Afar, the Punt, and even distant Kemet, never feel ashamed of your mixed origin among us, here we value character above all else," Empress Makeda said, holding Feven's gaze. The young woman smiled, genuinely for once, and nodded. She looked as though a weight were removed from her shoulders...

"Thank you for this, your Majesty, it wasn't easy being born different in Meroe, but I am glad that I can be myself in Napata," Feven said, and Empress Makeda smiled, and gestured with her hand, beckoning for the young woman to come closer. Hesitantly, Feven rose and crossed the distance between them, and sat next to Empress Makeda. Surprising the hell out of Feven, Empress Makeda gently took her hand, and squeezed it.

"You can always be yourself around me, Feven," Empress Makeda said, and suddenly, her face was inches from Feven's. The young woman looked at the Empress, and drew closer to her. Feven looked into Empress Makeda's eyes, and saw something twinkling in the lovely dark orbs. When Empress Makeda laid her hand on Feven's thigh, the young woman held her breath, then smiled faintly...

"I think I understand perfectly, my Empress," Feven replied, smiling, and then, in a moment of uncharacteristic boldness, the young woman took Empress Makeda's face into her hands and kissed her. Empress Makeda kissed Feven back, and pulled the younger woman into her arms. Passionately they embraced, and then began to make love, right there on the couch. The Kushite Imperial Guardsmen and women, well aware of their Empress's need for privacy, temporarily made themselves scarce...

"You are so beautiful," Empress Makeda said, watching as the lovely young woman disrobed before her. Feven slowly, carefully removed her bronze chest plate, gauntlets and pleated skirt, and stood before the Empress, wearing only her boots. Empress Makeda's appreciative eyes flitted all over Feven's body, taking in her lovely, curvy yet muscular body, her small perky breasts, and finally, that thick round derriere. Nodding in appreciation, the Empress rose at last...

"Thank you, my Empress," Feven said, and Empress Makeda grinned, and caressed her thick mane, then kissed her once more. The Empress's gentle yet knowing hands roamed all over Feven's body...with a purpose. Feven smiled as Empress Makeda's hands caressed her breasts, and then the two of them tumbled on the couch once more, and began pleasuring one another.

"Oh you'll have plenty to thank me for," Empress Makeda said, and the ruler of the Kush Empire looked up at the young woman before whom she knelt, and smiled. Lying on the couch, her muscular legs spread, her jaw slack, Feven was horny as can be, and Empress Makeda had her right where she wanted her. Pinching her nipples, Feven looked at Empress Makeda, and nodded almost imperceptibly...

"I am yours, my Empress," Feven murmured, and Empress Makeda nodded, and began pleasuring her lover. With her face firmly planted in Feven's vagina, Empress Makeda had a world of woman to explore. Teasing Feven's clitoris with her tongue, Empress Makeda worked two fingers into her vagina, and the younger woman shuddered violently, completely in thrall to what was being done to her.

"Damn right you are," Empress Makeda paused to say, and she inhaled the unique scent and taste of Feven's vagina, and resumed eating her out. From a leather pouch which she carried almost everywhere, the Empress withdrew a wooden object of a decidedly phallic nature. Feven's eyes went wide when the Empress waved it in front of her face, and she bit her lip, suddenly hesitant.

"You want to enter me with this, my Empress?" Feven asked, still hesitant but willing to trust her lover not to hurt her. Nodding, Empress Makeda giggled, and then pressed the phallic implement against Feven's pussy lips. Slowly, she pushed it inside, and Feven tensed. Seconds later, a happy sigh escaped the young woman's lips as the Empress began to pleasure her. With deep, vigorous thrusts, Empress Makeda fucked Feven with her toy, and the young woman's delight-filled moans echoed across the sacred garden...

"Now it's my turn, I want you to taste me," Empress Makeda said, much later, after taking the lovely Feven to cloud nine. The younger woman lay, stark naked, flat on the soft grass. Standing over her, hands on her hips, was a vision of beauty. A statuesque five feet eleven inches tall, the bodacious Empress of Kush had a body that an Amazon would envy.

"You're so beautiful, my Empress," Feven whispered, amazed. Gorgeously dark-skinned, with large breasts, wide hips and thick legs supporting an even thicker, round bottom, Makeda was regal African womanhood personified. In her late thirties, Empress Makeda was more beautiful and serene than women a decade younger than her. Feven had only been with a handful of women in her time, since living in Meroe, a town steeped in tradition, meant hiding her unique passions. Feven's fear of persecution was very real...

As the daughter of a wealthy Kushite businessman who married a foreign woman from Axum, Feven never truly felt like she belonged. Once she became aware of her attraction to women, she felt cursed. Feven never dared to dream that she would find a lovely, powerful woman who would embrace her. Growing up in Meroe, Feven resigned herself to the fate that awaited women-loving women, marriage to a man, breeding, an unfulfilled life, dissatisfying sex, and death. Empress Makeda was showing her another path, full of possibilities...

"Your face is going to be my throne for now," Empress Makeda said, laughing, and she then sat on Feven's lovely visage, smothering her with her thick derriere. Feven inhaled deeply, taking the unique scent of Empress Makeda's vagina into herself. Just like that, she began eating the other woman's pussy, and Empress Makeda sighed happily, pinching her nipples while Feven ate her out. Soon the Empress of Kush found herself moaning in deep pleasure, and that's when she let go, and let Feven have her way with her...

"Scream for me my Empress," Feven paused to say, and she grabbed Empress Makeda's voluminous posterior with both hands, and dove in, burying her face in her vagina. As Feven's tongue wormed its way up Empress Makeda's vagina, the younger woman slid a finger up her ass, then added a second. That's when Empress Makeda's screams changed in tune, and she began to squeal in delight, loving what Feven was doing to her...

"Hmm, this was beautiful and pleasurable, my sweet, I didn't want it to end," Empress Makeda said, a little while later. Sweaty from their pleasurable exertions but happy as can be, the Empress of Kush lay in her lover's arms, a big smile on her beautiful face. Feven embraced Empress Makeda passionately, and they began the kisses again. They were so into each other that they didn't leave the sacred garden come nightfall, and they didn't notice hungry, lustful eyes following their every move...

"So, Makeda has a new lover," Bilain said, and the Vampire seethed with anger as she stood in the foliage, observing Makeda and Feven making love. Not long ago, Bilain was the Empress's lover, and her favorite. Of course, all that changed when Bilain walked home one night, and was accosted by a strange, pale man in the east end of Napata.

The strange man attacked her, and although Bilain tried to resist, the creep was just too strong. His flesh felt cold, and he growled like an animal as he came at her. Grabbing Bilain, the man did not force himself upon her, nor did he demand the contents of her fancy leather pouch. Instead, he sank his fangs into her neck. Bilain lost consciousness. When she came to, a few days later, Bilain found out that she was...changed.

At first, Bilain tried to resume her normal life, as the daughter of Salva, a wealthy Kushite nobleman and merchant who was close friends with King Nedjeh, father of Empress Makeda. She missed her father, and her beloved Empress, with whom she carried a passionate relationship. Bilain quickly realized that she was changed. The sun pained her, leading her to hide away during the daylight hours. Bilain also began to crave blood, and satisfied her cravings by feeding off the homeless, the vagrants and the drifters, people whom the world usually did not miss...